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The People-Pleasing Trap: How Laura Henshaw escaped it (and how you can too)
Mar 12, 2025
Laura Henshaw, co-founder and CEO of the KIC app, shares her journey from people-pleasing to empowered leadership. She highlights how seeking approval can hinder growth and offers strategies for authentic feedback. Laura emphasizes the importance of prioritizing self-respect over kindness, revealing that not everyone will like your decisions. She also discusses balancing work and personal life while managing emotional responses during difficult conversations. With insights from her experience, she inspires listeners to shift their perspectives and build confidence through personal mantras.
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Quick takeaways
- People-pleasing can sabotage effective leadership by hindering clarity in communication and decision-making, emphasizing the need for respect over approval.
- Providing direct feedback, despite its discomfort, is essential for fostering growth and clarity within a team, highlighting honesty as an act of kindness.
Deep dives
The Impact of People-Pleasing on Leadership
People-pleasing tendencies can significantly hinder effective leadership, impacting decision-making and feedback delivery. The need to be liked often drives leaders to avoid difficult conversations, which can lead to a lack of clarity and direction within a team. For example, the speaker realized that by focusing too much on being liked, they were leading in fear, making it challenging to provide constructive feedback that fosters growth. This shift in mindset highlighted the importance of valuing respect over approval, enabling the speaker to lead more effectively.
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